cocomero

Forms

cocomero m (plural cocomeri, diminutive cocomerìno or cocomerétto or cocomerèllo, augmentative cocomeróne, pejorative cocomeràccio)^[1] Old Italian forms include cocomaro, coccomero and southern cucummaru.^[2][1] The older literary forms are cocómaro and cocùmero.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cŭcŭmis, cŭcŭmeris (“cucumber”), continued from the accusative and moved into the masculine nouns in -o.^{[4][5][6][7][8][1]} Late Latin also had the nominative cucumer.^[5][3]

The same word is Old Occitan cogombre, whence French concombre, and Spanish cohombro and Portuguese cogombro, all meaning “cucumber”.^[5][9][10] In central Italy the word passed to the watermelon, for its similar colour and elongated shape, while the cucumber took the name cetriolo, a diminutive of citrus; northern Italian dialects keep the sense “cucumber”.^[5][7][3]

The Latin word is probably a loan from a non-Indo-European language, perhaps from an original *kuku(m)-, compared with Ancient Greek κύκυον (kúkuon).^[11] Nocentini puts it among the reduplicated substrate words with cucurbita (“gourd”) and cucutia, and DELI calls it perhaps pre-Indo-European.^[5][4] Wiktionary sees a wandering word, perhaps from Sumerian ukuš₂ (“cucumber”) or a Mediterranean substrate, and compares κυκύϊζα (kukúïza, “a sweet round gourd”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine document of 1286, for the cultivated plant and its large fruit with smooth green rind and red flesh.^[2][12] DELI dates it from the Italian translation of Pietro Ispano, of the 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Old Italian cocomero selvatico was the fruit of the squirting cucumber, used in medicine.^[2] The same plant is the cocomero asinino, recorded from the 14th century after Late Latin cucumis asininus in Vegetius; the image recurs in French concombre d'âne and German Eselsgurke.^[10]

Tommaseo records that Florentines called the watermelon cocomero and Venetians anguria.^[13] Alamanni praised the cocomer ritondo, immenso e grave (round, huge and heavy watermelon), full of cool juice.^[13] The figurative sense “fool” dates from the 18th century, as in Redi's Non son io un solenne cocomero (Am I not a perfect fool).^[10][12] Avere un cocomero in corpo is to have a secret or a nagging doubt.^[14][6] The seller or grower, the cocomeraio, is recorded before 1742.^[4]

German borrowed the word, for the cucumber, as kakumerij in 1483.^[15]

Timeline

• 1286 – A Florentine document records cocomero.^[2][12]
• 14th century – The Italian translation of Pietro Ispano uses the word.^[4]
• 14th century – Cocomero asinino is recorded.^[10]
• 1483 – German kakumerij is recorded.^[15]
• Before 1742 – Giovan Battista Fagiuoli uses cocomeraio.^[4]
• 18th century – Cocomero is used for a fool.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A watermelon, the large round or oblong fruit with a dark green rind and sweet red flesh with black seeds.^{[6][16][7][1]}
2. (botany) The plant that bears it, Citrullus lanatus.^{[6][16][17][1]}
3. (regional, northern) A cucumber, the cetriolo.^{[6][16][18][1]}
4. (figurative, dated) A foolish man.^[6][12][1]
5. (figurative) A nagging doubt.^[6][14][19]
6. (botany) Cocomero asinino: the squirting cucumber, Ecballium elaterium.^[16][12][17]
7. (botany) Cocomero amaro: the colocynth.^[12][17]
8. (zoology) Cocomero di mare: a sea cucumber.^[16][17]

Word family

• cocomeraio
• cocomerata
• cocomeraia
• cocomerino
• cocomerello

Related words

• anguria
• cetriolo
• Latin cucumis
• French concombre

Usage notes

The fruit is also called anguria, especially in the north, and melone d'acqua;^[12][17][7] pasteca is a regional name.^[12][17][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 248
4. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 997
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
19. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org